Medical marijuana users and
providers and their supporters yesterday served notice to the Bush administration,
the Justice Department and the DEA that the federal government's war on
medical marijuana in the states will not uncontested. While reports
are still filtering in as of this writing (Thursday evening), DEA offices
and other federal buildings were expected to be the scene of protests,
direct actions and civil disobedience in some 55 cities across the country.
Arrests have been reported in San Francisco and Washington, DC, so far.

The demonstrations, organized
by Americans for Safe Access (http://www.safeaccessnow.org),
a campaign of the Cannabis Action Network, told the DEA to "Cease and Desist"
from persecuting medical marijuana patients and providers in those states
where voters have opted for medical use. Provoked by a series of
DEA raids on California medical marijuana growers and dispensaries and
eying a federal permanent injunction against cannabis clubs due as early
as this weekend, ASA coalesced as a loose coalition ready to react when
more raids occur but also to proactively take the fight to the streets,
to the DEA, and to the Justice Department itself. Thursday was the
day for the first ASA national day of action.

"Nine states and 73 percent
of the American public believe that medical marijuana should be safe and
legal, yet the DEA is now working harder than ever to turn these patients
into criminals," said ASA executive director Steph Sherer.

In Washington, ASA resorted
to misdirection, publicly focusing on a 5:00pm demonstration at DEA national
headquarters across the Potomac River in Arlington, VA, while a small group
organized a stealth demo at the Justice Department. A few minutes
before 11:00am, the massive building's main entrance at 9th and Pennsylvania
Avenue was blocked by protesters, who swooped in and chained themselves
to the doors.

As supporters and news cameras
watched, ten people, including Adam Eidinger, DC Statehood-Green Party
Shadow Representative candidate; Mark Brandl, Libertarian Party national
student coordinator; Ron Crickenberger, Libertarian Party political director
and candidate for Congress in northern Virginia; David Guard, associate
director of DRCNet; Shawn Heller, national director of Students for Sensible
Drug Policy (SSDP); Bruce Mirken, media director of the Marijuana Policy
Project; Leslie Nemeth, University of Maryland SSDP, and another SSDP activist; Darrell Rogers, SSDP
outreach coordinator; and Kevin Zeese, president
of Common Sense for Drug Policy, explained why they were resorting to civil
disobedience before police first warned, then arrested them, dragging the
limp-bodied protesters to waiting paddy wagons.

"We've tried every reasonable
approach and failed," said the Libertarian Party's Crickenberger as he
stood in the doorway. "Now is the time to stand united. This
is the beginning of the fight. We will not go away," he vowed, as
supporters cheered and waved placards reading "A Patient Not A Criminal"
and "Medical Marijuana Saves Lives: Safe Access Now!"

At 11:02 police issued the
first warning that persons refusing to leave the doorway would be arrested.
As more police gathered, including a team in full SWAT attire, a second
warning was issued. At 11:24 the arrests began, despite exhortations
from Unitarian Universalists for Drug Policy Reform head Charles Thomas
to police. "Exercise your moral authority," urged Thomas. "Don't
arrest these people. Walk away now. Don't wait to ask for forgiveness."

But the police were unmoved.
By 11:35 the arrests were completed, the paddy wagons rolling away and
the main doors to Justice unblocked. The victory, however, was pyhrric,
as the rattled police promptly swung shut the 20-foot-tall steel doors
that shutter the entrance, again blocking the entry.

Those arrested were detained
between four and eight hours, but all were free by mid-evening. They
were in high spirits when DRCNet spoke with some of them at a local restaurant.

"Our goal was to get media
coverage, and we got some," said Eidinger. "The medical marijuana
issue is in all the newsrooms, thanks to the mass demonstrations in California,
300 people sitting in in San Francisco, hundreds more in other actions
across the state. But the most militant action was right here in
the belly of the beast," he said. "Ashcroft is a key figure in this
policy, and there is no reason he should not be held accountable."

There will be more to come,
Eidinger promised. "We'll be doing more protests in months to come,"
he said. "One demonstration is never enough, but sustained pressure
and growing numbers of people taking to the streets will ultimately lead
us to victory."

"We hiked things up a notch
for the feds," said Brandl. "When I think about people like Peter
McWilliams [noted author and medical marijuana activist who died in 2000
after a federal judge refused him access to his medicine], I'm more than
willing to face arrest to push this issue forward. This is a moral
thing, this is a personal thing for me."

For SSDP's Rogers, being
arrested was a chance to bring attention to a key issue. "This is
an issue of great importance, an issue of compassion for sick people, and
people are being thrown in jail for it," said Rogers. "Yeah, it was
worth it."

Early reports from ASA on
Thursday evening highlighted actions in Austin and San Antonio, TX, Cleveland,
St. Louis, and Springfield, MA, but most of the action was naturally centered
on California. Planners anticipated events in at least 13 California
locales, from Sonoma County to Huntington Beach, San Francisco to San Diego.
But at press time, few details were available. Stay tuned next week,
when DRCNet will examine the day's activities and the reaction in more
detail.

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